Surviving Out There
by Catnipisnotonfire12
Summary: Spoilers for ALL TWDG. Clementine and AJ had been in Wellington for eight years, until the community finally fell. Now it's back to survival of the fittest, but what do an eight year old and Clementine have against a run down, picked clean world? It's time to put their survival skills to the test, but AJ isn't used to surviving out there, can they make it? Multi-chapter wip
1. Wellington Falls

**Surviving out there **

**Spoilers for ALL TWDG. Clementine and AJ had been in Wellington for eight years, until the community finally fell. Now it's back to survival of the fittest, but what do an eight year old and Clementine have against a run down, picked clean world? It's time to put their survival skills to the test, but AJ is starting to ask Clem about his family. Is he really ready to know?**

"Clementine! Clementiiiiiiiiine!" Clem suddenly heard. She was sat, slumped in her and AJ's section of Wellington - enough for two sleeping bags, supplies and a target range worth of space - cleaning her gun.

"AJ?" She said, looking up. A small child with curly black hair escaping from beneath an orange baseball cap came running towards her, grinning.

"I was talking with Jasmeena, and she like, has cake. Like, they've literally found actual ingredients to make a _cake_! Can you believe it? How awesome is that?" He was bouncing up and down. "Jas says that it might be like, flat and a bit gooey because she had to bake it over a flame, and the flour might be no good, but still - it's cake!"

Smiling wistfully, Clem sat up to face AJ. "I can't remember the last time I ate cake..."

"I do!" Beamed the energetic AJ. "It was my fourth birthday, and it was your turn on the rota to leave and go hunting for 7Q, and you found some old storage unit and there was cake! Only, like, a little bad."

"So I cut the bad bits off, snuck it in and we had it all to ourselves, I remember." Clementine was grinning wildly. She quickly lifted AJ off his feet. He squirmed and struggled, but at 19 Clementine was strong. They were both giggling in the end. "Ah, I miss treats." Clem sighed as she put him down.

AJ's eyes widened. "So, wait, you weren't kidding when you said that, like, back before the bad time, people could just go to places and buy as many treats as they wanted? That was all true?"

Clementine nodded. "Sure as. They were called stores. Not just treats, either. Clothes and food and meds and all kinds of super cool stuff. I found some stickers the other day, the ones I put on our packs. Those came from a store once,"

AJ looked mesmerised. "So, can we have some of Jasmeena's cake or what?"

"Did she say you could?" Clem asked. AJ nodded. "And did you say please and thank you?" He nodded again. She grinned, nodding. "Go for it. Remember, only a little bit. You didn't make it, it's not yours."

AJ was beaming, a ball of energy. He began to run to Sector 6Q, where his friend Jasmeena stayed, but tripped. Getting up, his hair tangled inside his hat. Clementine frowned. His hair was getting too long, as was hers for that matter.

She took out a pair of scissors and began to snip to the right length. The strands of hair standing out visibly in the snow. Wellington didn't have a roof, so during the late winter months Clementine had a make shift roof of her own, covering her's and AJ's section with a bit of scaffolding and poles.

Shivering, she pulled on a black jacket with badges of rainbows and sunshines and more that AJ had traded from Jasmeena in exchange for food one christmas.

No, there wasn't a roof, but there was a wall. A great big wall that towered over her. Clementine often wished she could go the other side; for good, or at least for fun, not like on hunting trips. Well technically she could; this wasn't like Carver's camp. She could leave if she wished. But it wasn't for the best. Christa and Kenny, and all those what-ifs and maybes and buts, they were all gone now. She had to stay this side of the wall. Not only for AJ's safety, but her own too.

"Clementine! Look!" She suddenly heard. AJ came charging back, two pieces of cake in his hands.

Clementine waved, brushing dead hair from her shoulders and re-tying them into small bunches. "Amazing," she grinned, taking her slice. AJ wolfed his down in two bites.

"That was the tastiest thing I've ever had ever!" He grinned. "Even if the bottom was a bit gooey,"

Clementine grimaced at what was to come. "I'm glad. Hand me your hat, Alvie."

His look of happiness quickly faded into horror and suspicion. "...why?"

Clem sighed, lifting up a pair of scissors. "Why do you think?"

"No. Nuh uh. Haircuts are stupid!" AJ protested, coving his hair with his arms.

"You can have my piece of cake if you sit still and let me do this," AJ frowned, contemplating. Eventually, he picked Clem's cake up and munched on it happily, shrugging.

Untangling his hat, Clementine placed it on the floor and began to snip at AJ's hair.

"Why do we have to cut our hair anyway?" He asked.

"So walkers can't grab us so easily."

"But the walkers are out THERE, and we're in HERE. I can grow it super duper long and it won't matter, because there aren't any walkers inside Wellington," groaned AJ.

Clementine shrugged as she continued to snip. "You can never be too careful Alvie. Communities don't last forever,"

AJ shrugged. "We've lasted nine years."

"The world lasted billions of years before the walkers."

"Why do we even need guns, besides for hunting. We don't need to kill anyone, or anything, so why can't we just stay here till we grow old and die?" AJ huffed.

Clementine sighed. Had she been this inquisitive with Lee? "_Because_, AJ, if we grow old and then die, our brain hasn't been destroyed, so we would come back. If we don't have guns to prevent them from happening, then that one person could infect all of us. And like I said, places like this don't last forever."

"So that's why we constantly have all our stuff packed up?"

"Essentials. You'll thank me when this place goes to rubbish and we're not left with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a weapon each."

"Okay." He sighed, looking down. She finished cutting then brushed off any excess hair. She shooed him away. "All done."

Alvin Junior stood up, feeling his hair. "Thanks Clem," he put his cap back on. "Clem?" He began.

"Yeah?" Clementine said, looking up.

"Jasmeena is always talking about her mom and dad. Who's my mom and dad? Are you my mom?"

Clem couldn't help stifling a laugh at that. "No, no I'm definitely not. Your mom and dad...they're..."

Clementine took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and remembered. Something that hurt to remember (then again, all her memories hurt). _When he's grown, you tell him about his mommy and his daddy, and all the people that tried to keep him safe. _

"AJ they're..." She got cut off by a scream. A loud, excruciating scream like one she hadn't heard since before Wellington. Quickly, she picked up her gun and handed AJ his.

"You okay to shoot AJ?" She asked, quickly getting to her feet. He nodded - shakily, a little unsure - but he nodded. "Good." Others had taken the same stance, wandering closer to the screaming. Until it stopped.

And turned into groaning.

"Shoot! It's a walker!" Clem exclaimed, firing at the dead man's head. It went down, but the groaning didn't stop.

Through the speakers, an announcement rang. "The entirity of sectors 4Q, 6Q, 9R and 14P are infected. We are giving all non infected thirty seconds to evacuate the surrounding areas," grabbing AJ's hand, Clementine ran backwards, her gun still pointing to the small hoard of walkers.

"No! No Clem! We have to go back for Jasmeena!" AJ insisted.

"She'll...She'll get out! We've got to keep going AJ!" Clementine insisted. Suddenly, a timer came blasting down from the speakers. 10...9...8...

"AJ keep going," there were screaming and shouting. More loved ones lost.

7...6...5...

They were back at their section in sector 7Q. If Clementine knew anything about survival, it was that you had to learn from past experience. The outbreak wasn't contained in the first days - so why would it be now? And Sector 6Q was alarmingly close to 7Q...

Clem was just thankful she'd cut AJ's hair.

"AJ! GET OUR BAGS!"

"What?" AJ looked horrified. "We can't leave, it's sa-"

"-Safe? Look at this! This isn't safe! Quickly AJ! This is not a request!" Clem didn't like to be dominant to AJ, but she had no choice. She wasn't going to die just because she was too soft to yell a command.

AJ ran off and returned with two back packs and a couple of kit bags, the same style that Edith had given Kenny 8 years ago when she had to make the choice whether or not to stay with Kenny, or do what was best for AJ.

Her heart felt tight in her chest from that memory. At least this has been the best choice for eight, almost nine, years.

AJ threw Clem's purple backpack and the green kit bags to her as he slipped on his own backpack. The countdown had finished, and bombs had been detonated. Anyone, living or undead, in sectors 4Q, 6Q, 9R and 14P were gone.

The throwback had killed, but for others that it didn't obliterate, it didn't touch the brain. "Shoot, they're just mass producing walkers!" Exclaimed Clem.

She looked left, right and straight to the doors. All were blocked by walkers, screaming families or shrapnel. "WHERE DO WE GO?" AJ yelled over the screeching and groaning.

Clementine continued to look around, but in the end there was only one way.

"_Up_."

"What? Are you, like, crazy? We can't go up! Last I checked, we can't fly!" Yelled AJ.

Clem took a pickaxe from inside her jacket, looking at it thoughtfully. "No, we can't. But we can climb."

AJ looked skeptical, and terrified, but there wasn't any other way out. There was a stray piece of rope, which she used to tie her and AJ together. "Will this hold?" AJ asked.

"It had better," Clementine shrugged, heart pounding in her chest. The adrenaline was pumping through her as she stuck the pickaxe in a metal board and kicked upwards. She latched on to another board, freed the pickaxe and continued to climb. AJ was screaming loudly; Clementine was doing her best to hold her yelling in too.

When they got to the top, Clementine dared to look down. She couldn't help the small scream that escaped her lips then. "We're in trouble," she whispered. Thankfully, AJ didn't hear.

"Jasmeena!" AJ suddenly cried. "NO! NO JASMEENA!" At closer inspection of the ground, Clementine saw AJ's friend Jasmeena, just 9 years old, and her older sister becoming food for an angry looking walker. The walker that used to be a living being not five minutes before, that Clementine probably often interacted with.

She didn't know what to do, so she kept climbing, just a couple of feet till she reached the top.

"AJ, AJ, I know you're upset, but you have to listen to me." He looked scared; tears streaking down his face. She took her hat off, and his, then stuffed it in her bag. No point risking them flying off. "Come on kid, you trust me right?" AJ nodded. "Then we need to do this. I've got the pickaxe securely over the other side, okay? When I say so, we both hurl our body weight over the other side."

"Are- are you crazy?" Stammered AJ. "We'll fall and die!"

"The pickaxe is in the wall, and I'm holding onto the pickaxe. We've made it this far, so we can do it, okay? This is the toughest part, then we're half way there." Slowly, AJ nodded, and Clem forced a grin at him.

"Okay, on three. One...Two..." She pushed down on the wall and threw herself over the other side. AJ screamed, and she did a little too, but Clementine kept ahold of the pickaxe. They were safe. Kind of.

"Are you okay AJ?" Clementine asked, looking down at him. He was tearful, and clearly distraught, but nodded. As long as _physically_ he was okay. Clem could address his mentality later. She began to scale down until they firmly landed into the snow.

AJ was shaking with cold and stress, crying hard. They looked back at the walls one last time, till it truly sunk in that she was on her own. Well, they were alone. No more community. No more safe sleeping. No more friends. Just survival of the fittest outside.

"We have to go. Who knows if those walls are gonna break!" She tugged AJ's hand, running far away into the trees. Memories came bombarding back at her, but she fought them off. Eventually, she had to put AJ on her back to keep them at a good pace.

AJ knew how to shoot a gun, he'd killed a couple of walkers before. He knew that food was limited, and so were meds. AJ knew how to survive. But he hadn't seen anything so awful - a full scale walker attack in which one of his closest friends was killed - before. Clementine had survived before the safety of Wellington, AJ had never, apart from when he was a baby. It was new and terrifying. She was the same age when she got exposed to all the Hell of a world of the undead. At least AJ had a training advantage.

Clementine ran. She ran till her lungs burned and vision blurred and and limbs ached. Ran till she couldn't hear the gun shots or groaning of walkers of screams of dying living.

Setting AJ down, she slumped a kit bag against a tree and sat on it, trying to catch her breath.

"Clem- clementine?" Stammered AJ. He was sat on a bag too, huddled into himself.

"Yeah?"

"Do you- do you think Jasmeena is okay?" He looked up at her, tears drying on his cheeks.

Clementine sighed, pulling AJ forward. "Look, I really, desperately want to say she might be but...you saw what happened, AJ. Jasmeena's gone." She heard him sob, so pulled him closer to her embrace. "It sucks, I know. AJ...we might not be able to go back to Wellington. Which means we have to do some travelling." She took out their hats, putting her's back on before pushing AJ away.

"AJ, remember how you asked about your family before..." He nodded. "Still wanna know?" He nodded.

Clementine put his hat aside and went looking for wood. She wasn't gone long. The pieces were still a little damp from the snow but, with a little coaxing from her lighter, she got a fire going.

"Where do you want to start?" She asked him.

"Was I with you when you were with Lee?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "No, I mean...do you want to start with when I met your parents, and their group, or when you were born?"

AJ shrugged, looking down into the fire. Sighing, Clementine began. "I suppose after Omid died. We should start there.

Christa and I got separated after some bandits jumped us. For a few hours I was alone, even got mauled by a dog. Then, when a whole load of walkers came down on me, two guys called Luke and Pete came out of the woods. Shooting and stabbing, they picked me up and took me back to their cabin.

No one trusted me at first. The dog bite looked like a walker one, so they locked me in a shed. Your mom hated me especially,"

"So my mom wasn't a nice person?" Scowled AJ.

"No! She was really nice, it just took her a while to trust me."

"Why didn't they trust you?"

Clem hung her head. They were just getting started and it was still far too difficult for her to recall. "There was this man; William, or Bill, Carver. He ran a place much like Wellington, except you were forced into labour, and you could never leave. They managed to escape, but he wanted them back. They were on the run from this guy, and were worried I was with him and was just trying to scope them out."

"Oh...so why-"

"We're just at the beginning here AJ. I escaped and fixed my arm, so when I proved I wasn't bitten they allowed me into the group. It was made up of six adults called Luke, Nick, Pete, Alvin, Rebecca and Carlos, then Carlos's teenage daughter, Sarah."

"Were any of them my parents?" AJ asked. He was shivering, but he closed in on the fire as he spoke.

Clementine nodded. "Rebecca and Alvin. That's why are you're called Alvin Junior, after your daddy." AJ smiled weakly, still looking into the fire. He outstretched his hands to warm them; Clem did the same. "Luke was real nice. Nick was confused. Alvin was okay. Rebecca hated me, and so did Carlos. Sarah was...different, and Pete was great. At first.

The next day I went fishing with Pete and Nick. There were dead all over. As in, actual shot-in-the-head dead, not walkers. Till, eventually, walkers did descend on us. Pete got bitten and died. Nick was an emotional wreck."

"That sucks."

Clementine sighed. _You don't know the half of it, AJ_. "So I ran back to the cabin without Pete or Nick. Luke and Alvin, your dad, had already gone looking for us. When hearing what happened, your mom and Carlos insisted to go look too, which left me alone with Sarah.

...AJ, the thing about Sarah was...uh...she was real sweet. But her dad had tried his hardest to protect her to the point she couldn't really function without him. Totally dependant. Couldn't hunt or shoot or fix a wound...so I had to lie about what was happening. But not before she took a photo of me and her, then asked to be shown how to use a gun. I tried, I did, but then there was a knock at the door..."

"Was it that Carver guy?" AJ asked, sitting up. Clem nodded. "What happened?"

"He came in, scoped the place out, found Sarah's Goddamn photo, then left. When the group came back it was clear it wasn't safe to stay in the cabin, so we went off. Five days we walked, till eventually we found a bridge. Luke and I attempted to cross it, till we got attacked by walkers. When we eventually finished fighting them, we met a guy. He was super nice, but before he could help us, Nick...he...he was still a little emotionally unstable. Shot the guy straight in the neck."

"Oh my God!" Exclaimed AJ.

She carried on explaining uninterrupted till she got to Kenny. "He was still alive! Oh my God! That rocks!"

His reactions were appropriate, until she got to Carver's camp. "So why did this guy have an obsession with mom?"

"Uh..." Did she tell him? It wasn't something that, essentially, he needed to know. "He was crazy, AJ. He thought that you were his son, not Alvin."

"But...but he's not my dad is he? The crazy guy isn't my dad?"

Clementine shook her head. "No AJ, Carver is most certainly not your dad. So, where were we?"

"Luke had just spoke to you in the comic store." AJ explained.

"Right, so then Troy tells me to go up to Carver's office. I do, your mom is leaving as I go. Crying. When I get there your dad, he..." She huffed, looking directly at AJ. "Alvin Junior, you know your parents aren't..."

"...Alive? Yeah, I..I do." Just as his tears had dried, a single tear slid down his face again.

"Well, he's in a chair. Beaten up and bloody and bruised and..."

She carries on until they reach the Civil War site. "So Sarita is bitten?"

"Yeah. When I tried to talk to Kenny about it, he was screaming and yelling it was my fault."

"It wasn't!" AJ insisted.

"I know, but..." She shivered and shook her head. "Okay. So your mom is about to have you, so we're looking for a place so that she can, you know, _do that_."

"Gross!"

Clementine carried on, talking about the museum and the Racoon, Jane and the gift shop and refusing the rob Arvo, then when they got to the deck she skimmed over the details of Rebecca actually giving birth, as well as Jane and Luke's little session, which she now realised (after a bit of explanation from a few people in Wellington when she was thirteen) was a little more than just 'kissing and stuff'.

"You were born, and you were super cute. Jane left some time after that. It was getting cold, so we set off the next day to try and reach the city in the distance. Who knows how many supplies that were there, but...Arvo was there. We didn't actually take his things, but he wasn't too happy about being roughed up by Jane. There was shooting and firing - and eventually, we won. Luke got shot, and it was a wonder you didn't go deaf after hearing all that gunfire, but we came out okay."

"What did you do with him? He seems super mean!"

"Well, AJ, in amongst all the firing...your mom was so weak and cold after giving birth. She died of hypothermia."

"But, but that means her brain didn't get destroyed!" AJ exclaimed.

"I...I had to shoot her. She was a walker, okay? Your mom was a wonderful person who, if I thought was still alive, would never kill. But you were in her arms, AJ! If we left her, you'd have been bitten."

He looked distraught; tears pouring freely. "It's okay, I understand Clementine."

Taking a deep breath and relighting the dwindling fire, Clementine explained how Jane returned and Kenny nearly killed Arvo. How Luke drowned under the ice and Bonnie, Arvo and Mike all ran off and abandoned her.

"Arvo even shot me."

"What! That ass!"

"Language, AJ." Clementine scolded.

"When I was unconscious, I had a dream about Lee. When I woke up, Jane and Kenny were in the car, arguing over some random shit. Eventually, we had to stop..."

Clementine carried on explaining, until she got to the fight scene with Kenny. "So Jane told you and Kenny I was _dead_?" AJ exclaimed after a moment.

"Yeah. They got pretty brutal. Eventually, I knew I had a choice. Remember, I thought you were dead, so I could look away and give Jane the punishment she deserved, or recognise she still needed to live, and Kenny was getting out of hand and shoot him. I didn't want to do either, but two alpha leaders couldn't coexist together. So I looked away, I couldn't kill Kenny."

"So he's alive?" Frowned AJ.

"The story's almost over. We found you, crying in the backseat of the car. We began to walk North and, after a few days, found Wellington. They weren't accepting entries. They were at full capacity. So Kenny persuaded them to let the kids, you and me, in." She nodded to his hat. "Told me that, when you were old enough, to make you wear this thing. It was his own hat. I remember, he said to me, _when he's grown, you tell him about his mommy and his daddy, and all the people that tried to keep him safe._ So that's what I'm doing. Me, Kenny, Rebecca, Alvin, Carlos, Sarah, Jane - in her own way - Bonnie, Mike, Luke, Nick, and so many others...they all tried to keep you safe, before and after you were born."

"And now Wellington's fallen." He breathed.

Looking around, Clem saw that - whilst it wasn't dark - the sun was drawing in. "C'mon, we've been sat here too long. We need to find shelter for the night."

"We could...we could try and find Kenny! Or Christa! You said they didn't die, right?" AJ beamed.

"I said I didn't know what happened to Christa, and sure, Kenny was alive when I last saw him, but that was _eight years ago_. The outside is a dangerous, picked clean society. He might not have made it AJ."

"But- but..."

She handed him is backpack and kitbag, stomped out their fire, and took hold of AJ's hand. "Okay, kid. We have to go. Come on,"

"Where? What now?"

Clementine shrugged, looking around at the wilderness of a forest covered in snow. "Now? We walk, AJ. We walk."

**This was a little silly, but I just loved the idea of Clem and AJ surviving in the outside world together as she tells him about his family. Imagine if they actually found Kenny or Christa? Haha! **

**Please review, no hate please. **


	2. The Rest Stop

**Surviving Out There **

**Chapter 2. **

It had been three days. Three long, long days.

They'd trudged through snow and hail and blistering winds, Clementine rationing supplies far more scarcely than she'd done the last eight years. AJ, for the first day they walked on, didn't talk to her.

"You okay, buddy?"

A nod.

"We're a couple more days walk from a rest stop. Who knows, I could backtrack and try and find my way back to Arvo's old camp. Maybe back to the gift shop, or, or the war site. It's been a while, but even if I get lost, there has to be shelter somewhere." Clementine tried to coax him into optimism, but the poor kid hadn't survived like this before. She could tell it was chipping away at him.

"Uh-Huh." He sighed.

Clementine huffed. "I know it's cold. Wanna piggyback?" Clementine didn't offer them so much anymore, but when she did - like on his birthday or Christmas - she cherished his face lighting up and that twinkle in his eye as he changed yes, yes, yes, over and over; jumping up and down. Up and down.

AJ simply shook his head.

Clementine huffed again, pulled her hat down, and marched on. Maybe if she'd have known that the world would have done this, _become_ this, she'd have been a bit kinder saying goodbye to her parents.

Then again, there was a lot Clementine regretted. She just had to keep moving.

That was then, and this was now. Clem saw a familiar sighting. A rest stop sign, benches...

"This is it, AJ. This is the place Jane and Kenny...This is shelter." She sighed, fighting off memories. That was in the past. She wasn't with a Kenny and Jane. She was with AJ, and she had to keep AJ safe until her heart stopped beating.

AJ began to run towards the entrance and Clementine, grinning, ran too. When they got inside, she realised they weren't alone.

Curled up in a ball on the floor was a pale woman with brown hair and wrinkling skin, earmuffs covering her ears.

"Edith?" Clementine muttered.

Edith looked up, her tired eyes not quite agreeing with the smile she produced. "Clementine, AJ. You made it out."

"So…it, uh, it really did go under then?" Clem murmured. "I didn't over exaggerate or nothing?"

"Yeah," Edith sighed, sounding tired not just physically, but emotionally too. Wellington had been a final shot at life for some people. They weren't lucky enough as Clem to have a reason to try to survive outside of it, or even have the will to.

"How long have you been here?" Clem asked.

"A day, I think. Just waitin' it out. Lost my gun shootin' my way outta there, and for what? At some point I'm gonna starve or dehydrate or freeze or all three. Just a matter of waitin'." She sounded far-off from reality before she spied the gun in Clementine's hand.

For a moment, her eyes truly lit up. "You got weapons. Clementine, it's just one bullet. Give it to me."

"To do what?" Asked AJ. As he looked between Clementine, the gun and Edith, his eyes widened a little. They were sunken and bloodshot. "Oh."

"Edith, I-" Clementine began.

"-just the one bullet, Clem. If I don't a bullet's going to be wasted on me anyway, just walker form. Might as well make it now. C'mon Clem, I took you and AJ in when we were at full capacity all those years ago. Just give me the gun and return a favour to an old friend."

Clementine looked down at her gun, then back up at Edith. She looked so tired, so lost. She'd seen that look before, many times. Clementine knew she had two decisions.

Give Edith the gun or refuse.

Taking a deep breath, she thought of Katjaa, who took her life because she'd lost people. Her son. Hesitantly, she began to hand it over. Then she thought of Lee, a man who died before his time, just like many others.

She remembered Kenny telling her something, about when they went looking for her when Lee was bit. How they saw a couple who killed themselves together in their bedroom as the outbreak began, about what Lee said; about what Kenny said back.

She repeated it, word for word. "You don't just end it 'cause it's hard. You-you stick it out and help the folks you care about!" Clementine shook as she stuttered, improvising as she ranted. "I've known people end it because they just couldn't stand this, but that's not okay. I've known more people, people who wanted to live but didn't. So no, I'm not giving you my gun!"

There was silence. AJ went onto his knees and kneeled in front of Edith. "You're really nice to me Edith. Don't go." AJ looked up. "You can travel with us! Clementine is trying to head back South, she knows places. Places from before Wellington. Please Edith."

"Places?" She hummed.

Clementine nodded. "They might not be much, but they're at least shelter. Better than here." She gestured around her. "We have to try. Come with us Edith."

Edith looked up and sighed. "O...okay."

Clem sighed in relief. She felt eight years old again, but she knew AJ was too young and Edith wasn't in fit shape to tie her shoes. Clementine had to be in charge. "Okay then. Let's rest here tonight and get heading south in the morning."

Edith just stayed where she was. Clem scoped the place out, just to check there weren't any lingering walkers Edith hadn't discovered hidden in the bathrooms or something. When all was clear, she blocked the doors up with a couple of stray benches from outdoors and took rest against the door, her head leaning against the wall. AJ walked over to her after Edith fell asleep.

"Clementine?" He murmured.

"Yeah kiddo?" She murmured back, eyes slipping closed.

"Do you think going to the south is a good plan? Like, will we find things there?"

Clementine sighed. "I can't lie to you AJ, I just don't know." She echoed, memories from the past calling back to her. "I hope so."

"I hope so too."

"Clementine?"

"Get some sleep, AJ." She replied. She could feel him resting against her, his head crooked in her neck.

"Just one thing. Do you...do you think we'll ever get back to how things used to be? Like, how you told me things were? One day we'll defeat them all?"

Clementine sighed. Did she lie? He was only eight. Only Clementine's age when it all began. "I...no. I don't think think it ever will, AJ."

"Oh. Goodnight Clementine."

"'Night, kiddo."

**Should i continue this? Make it a proper multi-chapter fic? Review if you think i should. Or if you liked it! Please, no hate. **


	3. Birthday Messages

Surviving Out there - Chapter 3. Birthday Messages

AJ woke up first.

Two more days had past, nearly a week since Wellington, and his entire world had flipped.

His home was gone. He had to sleep watching his back. His friends were gone

At least he still had Clementine.

All three of them, AJ, Clementine and Edith, had all bed down up in a tree. Clementine had been up to keep watch, but eventually had slipped into sleep, which worried AJ slightly. Still, he was awake now.

It was supposed to be a special day. He sighed, looking down at the floor. It looked peaceful, the snow shining in the morning light. The absence of snow falling or walkers groaning was nice, too.

Reaching forward, he took out a knife and began to carve into the tree. It read:

**HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY ALVIN JR. **

He sighed, putting the knife away. AJ was supposed to have a party today. Clementine had found some coloured paper she tore into strips, ready to decorate their area. Not that AJ was supposed to know this. Jasmeena and her brother were supposed to be there too. Alvin Junior missed Jasmeena. He took out his knife again.

**R. I. P. JASMEENA. WELLINGTON FELL, YOUR MEMORY HASN'T -AJ. **

"AJ?" He heard. AJ quickly pocketed his knife. He swung upside down on the branch to the one below, grinning upside down at Clementine.

"Morning Clementine." He said.

Clem, noticing Edith was still asleep, crawled up to AJ. Something on the tree caught her eye. "Shoot, AJ. It's your birthday. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks," he replied. Clementine looked downcast. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"I remember my ninth birthday. We were heading to Savannah, and I didn't want to bother anyone, so I didn't tell anyone but the man on the radio. It was a mistake, and I hoped your ninth birthday would be better." She sighed.

AJ looked up at her. "It's okay, Clementine. My eighth birthday present can't be beat anyway," he tapped at his hat, grinning. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to make her feel better. Why are adults so sad all the time?

She swung down to her branch, opened the kit bag, closed it again and swung back up. AJ marvelled at how agile she was, and hoped Clementine could teach him to be a little less clumsy one day.

"Here, breakfast. Sorry I don't have a gift...I'd left it in Wellington. How about you eat my food?" She suggested.

Their breakfast was simply an energy bar each. He couldn't take that from her. "No, it's okay. Next year things will be better." He told her, half believing himself.

"You bet it will!" She said with absolute certainty as Edith began to stir.

"Clementine? Alvin Junior?" She muttered.

"Coming, Edith." Clementine swung back down.

Half an hour later, they gathered up their supplies and began to walk. It wasn't as cold anymore, but still cold enough to snow. "A couple more days," Clementine had said "and we'll be out of the snow. Three days max."

AJ still had the stick he and Jasmeena used to play pretend sword fights with. The other one probably died with her. He took it from his backpack and began to drag it along the snow.

Clementine, realising what he was doing, took ahold of his stick and began to draw. She drew **AJ** in the snow, then **CLEMENTINE** and **EDITH**. Then **HAPPY BIRTHDAY AJ**, as well as miscellaneous circles and patterns.

"My turn!" AJ a insisted, yanking his stick back of her. He started running round and round, dragging the stick in the snow as he went. He waved it in Edith's direction, but she simply shook her head, smiling kindly at him.

Eventually, for the sake of progress, they had to stop. Clementine insisted that he didn't have to discard the stick, which relived AJ, despite the fact he offered to for the sake of lighter travel.

They came across a power station, which for some reason made Clementine grin and yell and whoop with glee. "Yes!" She cried, jumping for joy. "We're on the right track, AJ, Edith. A night or so more and we'll be far away from the snow, I can feel it."

"Was this the power station you, Jane, Kenny, Mike, Luke, Bonnie and Arvo stayed in?" AJ asked, thumb looping behind his backpack strap as he walked up to Clem.

She nodded. "You too, AJ. Kenny barely let you out of his sight. Or his arms. Weren't many people he trusted holding you,"

AJ felt Clem's arm snake around his shoulders, squeezing him and pulling him closer. "C'mon, kiddo. Let's get a fire going," she prompted.

AJ ran after Clementine into the station. He helped Clementine check for walkers. Alvin Junior was a little confused as to why he was doing this, wasn't it an adults job? Edith wasn't too happy about it either, but Clementine had insisted that he needed to know what to do in case something happened and he was alone. AJ didn't want to think about that.

Night fell not long after. AJ sat back against a hard, metal box as Clem leaned against the mesh of wiring. Edith was still downcast and, waiting to be alone, offered first watch.

He began to think hard as Clementine poked at the fire. "Clementine?" He muttered.

She looked up at him quickly. "Yeah kiddo?"

"What's it like, down the south?" He asked.

"AJ, I've told you, I don't know what the buildings are going to be like eight years later." Clementine huffed, returning to poking the fire.

"No, I mean, weather? Will there be snow?" To AJ's confusion, Clementine smirked to herself, a small giggle escaping her lips as she shook her head.

"No, AJ. It's winter time, so it will probably be cold. Freezing cold. Nothing like up north, though. Get your stick and brush away at the snow."

AJ did and, after a few seconds, there was something solid beneath it. He stared down, confused. "It's like a wall." He marvelled, tapping at it.

"That's called concrete I think. When we get outside the power station, underneath there'll be grass. When we get down south, there'll be loads of that. Clear air too. Probably a lot of rain, but no snow. Apart from in the winter, and even then not all the time. Grass is nice. It tickles, though." She giggled. "I remember Mom and Dad and I, we were playing in the pool, and I ran on the grass without shoes. It was so..." She trailed off, her smile fading. "The south is different." She sighed, pushing away from the fire back to the wire fence.

AJ noticed Clem running her finger along the wire, one little meshed up square at a time. A solemn expression was on her face.

"When you were here before, wasn't it someone else's birthday?" Asked AJ. "Mike's?"

Clem grinned, shaking her head. "It was Luke's. He was only twenty...twenty five? Shoot, no, uh..." AJ saw her face screw up in concentration as well as frustration. "I can't have forgotten, I…I just can't have." She sat up quickly, smirking. "Twenty seven. Luke had just turned twenty seven. Of course, it would still be a couple more weeks if it's your birthday today Alvie. Wow, he'd be..." She began to count on her fingers. "He'd be thirty five now. Or thirty six. I'm not sure." She exhaled deeply. "Mid-thirties. Jesus."

"How old are you, Clementine?"

"Nineteen." She responded. Looking up into the night sky, she sighed and whispered under her breath, "Happy Birthday Luke, I hope you're having fun up there. A proper party with kissing and stuff." She smirked, as if she shared an inner joke but she was the only one left to remember it. It confused AJ.

Clem pulled her hat down. "Happy Birthday, AJ. I'm going to watch for a bit, make sure Edith gets some sleep." She told him, getting up and walking over to Edith.

AJ shuffled over to where Clementine sat. As Edith joined him, he looked at the wall. On it, carved with a knife, was:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO -CLEMENTINE

AJ chucked, grinning. Maybe it wasn't the party he's have got at Wellington. Maybe they were cold and running for something that might not be there or his friends and parents were dead. He'd still had a good birthday, and AJ hoped he and Clementine would be around for his next one.

**please be kind when reviewing. If there is something you specifically want to happen, let me know! **


	4. Romans (12:19)

Surviving Out There - Chapter Four

A/N: dear one of the guests: Alexandria and Woodbury? Is that something from the show, because unless my memory of the game is failing me (which I don't think it is) then no, because I don't watch the show. Nor have I read the comics. Sorry.

UPDATE: I'll try to post a chapter daily, but because my laptop isn't working, therefore I'm doing this on iPad, so it may take a couple of days.

There were three more days of surviving until things started changing.

Clementine, AJ and Edith had persevered through the snow until one day they reached a large hill, snowy at the bottom but far clearer at the top.

"Check it out!" AJ had yelled. Clementine was already smiling as she watched him run to the top. "It's- its grass! There's no snow, like you said!" He yelled. She ran after him, giggling as she did so. Edith ran too, a smile on her face genuine for the first time since Clem and AJ had met her from the rest stop.

"It's amazing!" She breathed, looking around at the top. She saw snow, yes, but there was nature too. Nature that didn't need fur coats to survive in the terrain they were in. There were butterflies and Ravens and all sorts. It was still freezing cold to the point where she hugged her dark purple hoodie around herself, raising the hood over her hat. It was amazing to see nature outside of its snow casing again, she wondered how AJ felt seeing it for the first time.

"I ain't seen nothing like this. Not since I was a baby." Edith recalled.

"Not even before Wellington?" Asked AJ.

"I was born up North. There was the odd day the snow wasn't too bad and it was kinda clear, but not often. We did take the odd trip down south, but that wasn't often either. Nah, born and raised up North." Edith explained.

"Me too, I guess." AJ replied.

"I was born in Atlanta. Which way is that?" Clementine asked.

"What's Atlanta?" Asked AJ.

Clem sat down on the hill as she spoke. "Way back Before, places were divided up into...well, kind of like sections. They'd all have names. Wellington's up need Michigan, Lee had lived in Macon, and I'm from what was Atlanta."

"Suppose it's been so long now...folks are starting to forget." Edith sighed, sitting down with Clem.

"No one's forgetting, Edith. It's just not important anymore. I mean, I was eight when all this began. That's eleven years ago. I've known this more than I've known Before." Clementine explained with a heavy heart. AJ just continued watching the birds swoop in the sky.

"Bet you still miss it though."

"Everyday." Clementine sighed.

"Then you wouldn't have known me!" Exclaimed AJ.

Looking down in the grass, Clementine pulled out chunks of it, watching it scatter around.

"AJ, do you miss Wellington? Safety? Jasmeena?"

AJ nodded. "Well, if you'd stay there, you still wouldn't know the full story about your family. Wouldn't be able to feel the grass. Wish you didn't know those things?"

AJ shook his head. "No! I'm super glad I've seen grass. I'm super duper happy you've told me about my mom and dad and all the others."

"Exactly. You still miss Wellington though." AJ nodded. "Just because you love the new people you meet or things you discover, doesn't mean you don't miss what life was like in the past." Clementine stood up, brushing the grass off her jeans. "Still, we have got keep moving. Let's go,"

So they kept moving. "If I remember correctly," Clem said a few hours worth of walking later, "after this there was a stretch of road that lead to a town or city. Never looked there, that could be a good place to start."

"Alvin Junior, think you could hang back, keep our backs covered?" Edith suddenly says. AJ nods, grinning enthusiastically as he takes his gun out and runs a couple of feet back. This confused Clementine a little; she always made sure he knew how to survive, but didn't quite want to upgrade him to survival outside of Wellington yet. Soon, she knew it had to be soon, but not yet.

"What's that for Edith?" Whispered Clementine. "I'm not comfortable with that. We should keep an eye on him for-"

"-what? For biters? Clementine, how long have we been going?" Edith said.

"Uh, a week?" Clem replied.

"Eight days. Eight days, Clem. And I've not seen one biter."

"Edith, if you're trying to tell me the outbreak's been cured-"

Edith shook her head. "-I'm not that naive Clementine, I'm simply saying it's strange, is all. Maybe we've finally gotten better at controlling this thing."

"Or there simply aren't enough of us anymore. Besides, Wellington fell because of walkers." Clementine said.

"I know, I know. All I'm trying to tell you is that when this first went down, no one knew how this works. No one knew to destroy the brain, or that it's in the air to the point we're all gonna turn one day if we don't you know..." She took two fingers, pointed them too her temple, then made a sound like a gun going off. "We know all that, now. We finally could have controlled this thing."

"Or you're being foolish, and we've not seen any because we've been up North, where they're slow and useless." Clementine retorted.

"Nothing foolish about being optimistic." Edith replied.

"Clementine! Clementine!" AJ yelled.

Clem's gun was out quick as anything. "What?" She quickly yelled, ready to shoot.

Instead of being fearful, instead of a walker biting into his neck or a human with a gun to AJ's head, he was grinning widely, jumping on the spot. "Look! Look!" He cried, pointing in the distance.

Clementine followed his finger. Edith spoke up first. "Is...is that-"

"-a city!" AJ exclaimed. "Look, I can see a bell tower and everything!"

"That's...that's...that's the one, kiddo. The one I told you about." Clementine breathed. She was a little shocked; in all honesty she didn't expect to make her way to the rest stop, let alone back here. It was a comfort her memory served her well over the last few years.

"You been here before?" Edith asked.

Clementine shook her head. "No. Headed this way but there were...complications. We should still check it out. The weather isn't too bad, who knows, it might be a good place to stay for a few days."

It was still snowing, but lightly. Nothing like all those years ago when Clem first walked along this way. "What do you think about a place to stay for a while, kiddo?"

"Consult the kid, of course." Edith grinned. "Should'a known you can't do anything without AJ's consent. I've known you for how many years now? Nine?" She smirked.

"Awesome!" AJ exclaimed.

"Hold up. Keep your hat on, kid." She pulled his hat down over his hair. It was already starting to get curly again. Trust Rebecca to have a child with the curliest hair imaginable. Then again, when she let hers grow it wasn't much better. "Let's get walking, then. We might be able to reach it before nightfall."

As they walked, Clem started to think about what Edith had said. They did reach it, eventually. "Should'a known you can't do anything without AJ's consent. I've known you for how many years now? Nine?" It wasn't the fact about AJ that bothered her. If it was appropriate for the situation, she always made sure AJ had his say. No, it was how long she's known Edith.

Edith was lovely, a really kind person. If she wasn't, who knows where Clem would be now; an unkind person would have turned children away from Wellington when it was at capacity. But the think that struck her wasn't that Edith wasn't a bad person, it was that she was an okay person. The person you'd trust to babysit AJ or organise weaponry and food supplies, of which they were running dangerously low. Clementine had known this perfectly lovely and okay person longer than she'd known her own parents. She didn't like that fact.

A side glance at Edith, then to AJ. She'd known AJ for just as long, but she felt different about him. As if he were her little brother that she had to protect. He wasn't an okay person, he was stupid and clumsy, a whiney jerk at times and an over excited puppy. She liked that she'd known AJ for that amount of time, yes, she liked that fact.

"What are you looking at Clementine?" AJ asked her. He'd got his stick out again, attempting to draw patterns in what was left of the snow. He hadn't been very successful, but persevered anyway.

"Nothing, Alvie. Let's keep walking."

They didn't arrive before nightfall, but they did arrive. It was dark, the moon full and high in the sky. It marvelled Clementine. The world had gone to shit but the Earth kept spinning and the sun and moon contained to do...whatever it is they did. She was only in first grade when the apocalypse began, they hadn't gone into a lot of detail on that sort of thing. At least Wellington had given her and AJ a bit of an education in some other areas.

"Stay close, AJ." Clem ordered. The city was large, a cobble stone road stretching throughout with buildings either side. Windows were broke along most of the buildings, shattered signs branding confectionary or electronics dented and smashed along the road.

"This place is real dystopian." Edith commented.

Clem hummed as she snooped around. "Have weapons ready." The place did seem abandoned, actually.

"It doesn't look like much. I say we find somewhere to rest and check everywhere in the morning." Edith said.

Clementine nodded. AJ pointed to the left. "How about in there?" He suggested.

It was a church. Tall, with leaves and weeds surrounding it. There were stained glass windows that, while not smashed, were faded and dull. There were a few destroyed graves, which saddened Clem a little, but over all it looked safe. A bit old and abandoned, but safe.

"Good idea, kiddo. Let's go. Guns ready."

Inside it was empty, but not at all normal.

There were the regular aspects. Pews with cushions for kneeling on, an altar and confessionals. Then there was the not so regular aspects.

"What on Earth..." Edith breathed.

There was a head. A walker head. Smack in the middle of the altar. It's brain had been destroyed, so it was thankfully unmoving. Around it was blood. Human or walker, or both, Clementine didn't want to know. There was a notebook beside it, opened up to the middle page.

ROMANS 12:19 - DEARLY BELOVED, AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES, BUT RATHER GIVE PLACE TO WRATH: FOR IT IS WRITTEN, VENGEANCE IS MINE; I WILL REPAT, SAID THE LORD

The open page read.

There were religious symbols by the head. Beads and crosses and all sorts. "Holy..."

"Wouldn't recommend making remarks like that in a place like this." Edith commented.

"I wouldn't recommend being here if you know what's good for you." Clementine heard a new voice, a gun cocking straight after it. "Drop your weapons."

She tried not to tremble or shake as she dropped her gun. "Gun down, AJ." She ordered.

"Hands in the air." Clementine and Edith did.

"Do as they say, Alvie." Clem ordered. He did.

Clementine slowly turned around. There were a small group. Her jaw dropped as she saw who it was.

They seemed to recognise her too as they raised their eyebrows. "Clementine?"

Ooh, who is it? Feel free to guess ;) think I have a pretty good idea though. Sorry for the late update. Enjoy!


End file.
